The Morning High Five
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Wondering how to teach your kids responsibility? Looking for ways to instill good homekeeping skills? Want just a little bit of help around the house?
Me, too!
Chores are good for kids. Not only do they help them learn home management and responsibility, but having regular household responsibilities gives them a vested interest in the workings of the household.
We are still a work in progress over here. But, we’ve got a few systems that are working. One of the regular parts of our day is The Morning High Five. The kids must do these five things before school each morning. I made up this chart and have copies of it plastered all over the house.
There’s no excuse for not knowing what you need to do each morning.
You can print out our chart or customize one of your own with this free printable.
Right now you can purchase my latest ebook, Organizing Life as MOM, which includes 173 pages of inspiration and planning ideas. 100+ pages are fillable planning sheets, meaning you can customize them to fit your life, your family, and YOU. It includes a new and improved version of The Morning High Five.
This basic list of five helps us get a good start on the day. It’s not all that our kids do for chores, but it’s an easy bare minimum and a way that helps us get the day rolling in a positive way.
We do this too! It’s so hard to get them working in the morning but when they do it sets the tone for the rest of the day! We do incentives and a chore chart and the sooner they get finished the sooner they can do what they want to do.
This. Is. Awesome!
Way more efficient than updating am chore charts for multiple young kids!
Thanks! xox
Hi! I LOVE this! My husband & I are working on a responsibility chart for our 6 yr. old and this will be wonderful for the morning routine.
However, you mentioned it can be customized but, I can’t seem to figure that part out. Like her Daddy, my daughter needs to eat as soon as she wakes up and then make her bed, get dressed etc. So I just want to change the order up a bit. Please let me know asap so we can start using this soon. 🙂 Thanks SO much for sharing!
The customizable version is in my ebook, Organizing Life as MOM.
This is a great idea! I was looking for something to help my godson (just turned 7) & god-daughter(1.5) who will undoubtedly have the task of “helping mommy”-my sis, along.
For motivation, one of my other god-children loves stickers! So, I think I’ll suggest it to my sis and to the reader above who wanted something for motivation. Another thing, what about re-arranging the 3-yr old’s tasks so breakfast comes first, then naturally he’ll get a sticker and be motivated to earn another 1-2 for now cleaning his dirty hands, teeth, etc and getting dressed. One thing I have found useful is doing things ‘alongside’ the one you are trying to motivate (kids, husband, etc) really helps with motivating them (parallel play).
Life is grand!
So, my 3 year old needs this Morning High Five but I can’t seem to get him to do those things. Any ideas for how to motivate? So far stickers work ok and timers just frustrate him, but I expect him to get things done reasonably. We waste a whole morning just reminding him to keep moving along with his chores. I want to homeschool preschool with him, but I’m so frustrated that he can’t get these simple chores done. Here’s my breakdown: use bathroom and dressed (10 min), breakfast (30 min), bathroom- wash face and hands (10 min). However, I can’t get him going on chore #1. He will drag this out into 2 hours if I let him. Help!
I think it depends on if he’s a young 3 or an old 3. My daughter is 3 1/2 and I don’t think she could be delegated to do those things. She can do them with reminders and with me sitting alongside her doing things.
He’ll be 3.5 at the end of May, but right after he turned 3 he was doing all these things, but now that it’s his job to do it by himself which he was doing very well, all of a sudden, he will do nothing that I say. I made the hand chart and that is helping a little. He is just a tough, stubborn and very smart kid! I have my hands full. I’m glad God only gave me 2 because it is more than I can handle some days. Routines take up almost our entire day!
I love your morning high-five idea. I’ve started using it for my 3 kids and they LOVE it. Thanks for sharing such a great idea!
So, I still love this one! I have just referred some friends to you once again, because the morning high five has saved my sanity!! Our kids still love the concept (if not the chores), and it gets our famiy on the move every morning.
Thanks!
Thanks! I just started on some morning flashcards but will also use your hand to post.
Thank you so much for this! Any chance you would do a printable for the Bedtime High Five?
I will have to check my files. I would have thought that I made one. Hmmm….. I’m getting old!
I’m 26, and I think I will start using your Morning High Five…. for myself…. LOL. 🙂
borrowed it for my 4 and 5-year-old boys…love it! i traced daddy’s hand, wrote and drew a pic on each finger, and taped it to their closet doors. no questions, just do your five (before breakfast). ours is more personal stuff-clothes, teeth, bed, put-away (toys, own laundry, stray items on their bedroom floor), and fill water bottle for the day. they are motivated to get to breakfast and if they wait until after, it is a struggle to get it done. we are moving toward one quick house chore to be done after breakfast and before school time. thanks for sharing!
Wondering how this works for those kids that have to be ready for the bus at 7:00am? Slack?
Well, I think each family has to find what’s going to work for them.
Making a bed, putting away clean clothes and doing a kitchen job can take as little as 10 or 15 minutes depending on a kid’s motivation. Breakfast and teeth brushing are non-negotiable in my book. 🙂
@nanasewn, Our kids (high schoolers) have to leave at 7 am too, so we schedule chores for the afternoon. Even so, with homework (ugh) and activities on some days, we keep it light. (kitchen tasks, feeding the dog, putting up clean clothes) Larger tasks have to wait for the weekend, where we still keep it simple.
These are great. My boys are 7 1/2, 6, & almost 4 and I have a 13 months old daughter. I was wondering what else your children do throughout the day and when they do it. I also homeschool and am trying to structure chore throughout the day and am looking for ideas. Thanks!
This is a great idea! I linked to your post from my website today. This was something that is right up my readers alley!
Thanks so much again for sharing.
Blessings,
Molly Green
This is great! My kids are a older so they have a little more responsibility now. Sometimes when my 11 year old grumbles about his chores, I find that challenging him in a “race” gets him moving. I propose that “I can finish ______ before you even get your bed made.” It sounds silly but we actually have fun “playing” the game.
I like your list a alot. I think I may do one for myself and post it for different parts of the day.
We have almost the same five morning requirements, but I just call it the Morning Rule. OK, I was totally uninspired, your High Five is so catchy. Way to go, Mom!
I’m printing these and starting tommorow.
THANKS!
Love the chart! We started “High 5’s” also, back when you first mentioned it- its such an easy way to remind the kids of their morning routine! We also do a similar set for bedtime (toys away, pj’s/clothes away, teeth, drink, go potty).
Thanks for the printable! Makes getting this going so much easier!
My full time job includes a lot of interaction with today’s teenagers, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to “train” a teenager how to wash dishes or sweep a floor (I wish I was kidding, but I’m not). My husband and I grew up with chore requirements, and that’s what we’re instilling in our children. Chores teach a lot of life lessons, and, from an employer standpoint, I’d much rather have a new employee that’s had to clean a bathroom before! Thanks for a great topic!
If your children ever complain, you can tell them that they get off easy! Mine are also expected to sort their laundry and fold/hangup laundry every morning. I do four loads a day, so everyone can help fold a load. They also get to clean up the bathrooms and take out the trashes (different children have different jobs).
Ha! They don’t get off easy. As I mentioned in the post, this is just how we start the day. The boys have other chores, including daily vacuuming, wiping down bathrooms, folding laundry, trash and recycling, and taking care of zones.
The morning high five is a great way for families to get in a groove of regular chores and routine. Plus, even the littlest people, like my two year old, can participate and have a morning high five.
Candy–I would love to see your teenage checklist with times! Of course, the most vital would be “get up on time!”
We have a checklist just like that!
We have our own chart too, customized of course since my daughter is a teen. I include times to help her manage her time and make sure she’s out the door in time to get to the bus.
We’ve used printed routines all her life. It’s something she’s accustomed to and it works for us.
My daughter is just now 5 and my boy is 3. A while back I started the “three things” every morning. 1. Dressed 2. make bed 3. Brush teeth. DD does them almost always without reminding and the boy is learning but doing very well. They love the structure. I’m thinking that adding a chore is a good idea!
Thanks for the great idea. I have been struggling for weeks on how to introduce chores into my household! I have printed off your posters and will hang them all over the house. I am already looking forward to tomorrow. Thank you once again, Tracey.